PHILADELPHIA – Less than an hour before first pitch on Saturday night, Aaron Nola’s neck locked up in the weight room in the Phillies’ clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park.
It was enough of a concern that the Phillies announced 42 minutes before the game that they had reinstated left-hander Ranger Suárez from the 15-day injured list a day before he was scheduled to make his season debut. It was unexpected, but the Phils needed Suárez available in case they decided at the last moment that Nola could not pitch, or if Nola could only pitch an inning or two.
Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham and third-base coach Dusty Wathan informed J.T. Realmuto of the situation on the field.
“We were kind of worried,” Realmuto said, following a 7-2 victory over the Diamondbacks.
But the athletic training staff worked on Nola’s neck. It made him good enough to go.
“Luckily, it was on my right side, so I could look left toward the plate,” Nola said. “If it was on the left side, it might have been a little different. … I felt it a little bit, but it didn’t get any worse during the game. I don’t think it’s going to be any long-term, lingering [thing]. I think it’ll be pretty quick.”
That’s good, because Nola is on a roll.
He allowed four hits, one walk and struck out eight in six scoreless innings against Arizona, which entered the game sixth in baseball averaging 5.09 runs per game. On Sunday night at Wrigley Field, he allowed one run in seven innings against the Cubs, who lead baseball averaging 6.12 runs per game.
That’s one run in 13 innings in two starts against two of the best offenses in the game.
“I think all my pitches feel pretty good right now,” Nola said. “Getting ahead of the hitters better than I was the first few starts and putting them away when I need to.”
Nola struck out Corbin Carroll looking on a 94.4 mph fastball to start the game. It was his hardest pitch of the season. He threw a 94.3 mph fastball to Ketel Marte in the first inning, too. It was his second-hardest pitch of the season.
Nola hadn’t thrown anything harder than 93.7 mph in his first six starts.
“The fastball felt good coming out of the hand,” he said.
“His stuff was sharp the whole outing,” Realmuto said.
While it’s never been about velocity for Nola, the extra finish to his fastballs mean a lot. Saturday, his four-seam fastball averaged 92.3 mph, up 1.0 mph from his season average. He struck out four Diamondbacks on four-seamers and sinkers. He hadn’t struck out more hitters on fastballs in a game since he struck out seven Braves on Sept. 1, 2024.
But it wasn’t just strikeouts. He induced weak contact. He kept the ball on the ground.
Nola recorded nine outs on ground balls. Pavin Smith lined out to left fielder Max Kepler in the first inning. It was the only ball hit in the air against Nola the entire game.
“He did a lot of good things,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Kepler hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give the Phils a 2-0 lead. Brandon Marsh snapped a 0-for-31 slump in his first game back from the injured list, doubling to score a run in the second to make it 3-0. Realmuto’s three-run homer in the third made it 6-0.
Nola earned his first win of the season, avoiding the dubious distinction of becoming the first Phillies pitcher to go winless in his first seven starts of a campaign since Bailey Falter in 2023.
“It’s good to get that off my back, I guess,” Nola said. “I was for sure going to go tonight. I got out there, started throwing, felt [the neck] a little bit. But it was mainly on the finish. It was hot, too, which was good. Once I got warm, I got used to it. As the game went on, I didn’t really think about it much.”